The Safeguard Mechanism is the Australian Government’s policy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions at Australia’s largest industrial facilities. The Safeguard Mechanism applies to facilities that emit more than 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent in a year.
The Safeguard Mechanism reforms introduced new requirements for information relating to actions (projects) meeting certain criteria that are referred to us under the EPBC Act.
Our obligations
The new reporting requirements apply to:
- EPBC approval of new facilities that are expected to be covered by the Safeguard Mechanism, or
- actions that increase emissions from existing Safeguard Mechanism facilities.
After a project has received an approval under the EPBC Act, the Environment Minister (or their delegate) is required to pass on any information relating to the scope 1 emissions provided in the course of assessment to the:
- Minister for Climate Change
- Secretary of the department responsible for Climate Change, and
- Climate Change Authority.
The Minister for Climate Change is required to act if total emissions are expected to breach legislated targets set under the scheme, such as by amending the scheme rules or taking other policy actions.
Your obligations
After project approval, we may ask you for additional information on scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions estimates, or seek confirmation that emissions estimates were calculated using the Clean Energy Regulator’s National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (also known as the NGER) methodology. You should provide this information within the timeframe .
You would also need to meet any other conditions that are set as part of project approval. Read more about project approval and conditions at Approval notices, conditions and making changes after approval.